Laptop purchase advice -- help please? Thank you

from Elemental Forums

My three-year old Sony Vaio laptop has served me very well. I currently play PoE on it, nothing spectacular, but it does well. It is, however, slowly dying, and I will need to replace it. Ideally, I would be able to purchase a good laptop online, ideally in the US, with a German keyboard, but barring that, in Germany, where everything is more expensive.
On this site here http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=product&filter=6 you can sort of configure Asus G75VW laptops as you want them. I haven't really found that anywhere else. Unless I am greatly mistaken, this is a laptop which can play games well, because of the decent cooling.
What I do not understand is what the difference is between the processors (all Intel i7, but between 3610QM or 3630QM) -- are those even very important -- and the graphics card, most notably NVidia 660M, 670M, 670MX. I'm sure one of those is better than the others, but how much more?
Can anyone give me some advice I can understand? I will have to weigh budget (I think these things are very expensive) vs. performance. I am NOT a person who understands much technical jargon, so any real human language advice is much appreciated.
THANK YOU!

22,807 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

In general, higher numbers are better....so, the NVidia 670m would be better than the 660m...a 3630QM would be better than a 3610QM...when the numbers are really close, you aren't going to see a whole lot of difference between the devices....

If I may suggest, take a look at the Lenovo Y580...it is comparable to the model you are looking at (3rd gen i7 intel processors, NVidia gtx 660m, 1080p resolution as an option, excellent cooling system, and solid state hardrive)...

It is smaller (15.6") which can be either an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your preference...it may also be cheaper depending on where you get it from and timing...Lenovo is well known for its high quality laptops, often regarded as the best mainstream brand for window laptops (apple laptops are the best in terms of quality)...

 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Asus G series has one huge advantage- it's cooling system is really top notch. 

 

It's the only laptop I would buy for gaming (others might be better, but I've gotten great use out of both Asus laptops I bought)

 

 

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top


Thanks both of you. Yes, I had considered Asus primarily because of the cooling system, which seems clever. I'm sure I can get the processor anywhere.

Are you saying that Lenovo y580 has a comparible one? I had had a Lenovo about 10 years ago, but it was just a fairly generic thing about which I can remember nothing.

In which was is a smaller screen advantageous besides being lighter?

So you are saying the difference in graphics cards is not really going to be significant? 2GB of dedicated memory in a mobile graphics card should be good, right, and any other differences will not be huge, perhaps?

 

THANK YOU

 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Depends what you're playing.  If you're wanting to play AAA games, you'll need a top-shelf graphics card.  If you're not a AAA gamer- you probably can get by with a cheaper card.

 

The only real TBS game that is AAA in terms of requirements is Civ V, and processor helps more there.

 

I expect the next explosion in requirement will come on the RAM side of things once 64-bit takes off.

 

 

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

The Lenovo Y580 has a very good cooling system...whether it is better than the Asus G75VW I cannot say since I have never seen a G75VW....however, I doubt the Asus G75VW could be drastically better...

I've played Shogun 2 total war at highest settings and 1080p, no problems and no real heat issues...Civ V also works just fine...it's not the best out there but it is very hard to beat for its price as a laptop...

I bring up the Lenovo Y580 because it is almost as good as the Asus G75VW but will likely be cheaper...since you aren't in the US I have no idea what prices you can get, all I know is that from where I am the Lenovo is cheaper by a decent margin...ultimately you will have to decide whether the Asus G75VW is worth the extra cost...if it's $100 more, it'd be worth getting...if it's $500 more, I'd probably go with the Lenovo instead...

Other things to consider:  what is the available warranty for each laptop?  Does the Asus have options for a solid state hard drive?  I know the Y580 can come with a small solid state for your operating system (makes your system run really fast) and a normal hardrive for everything else...

If you do get the Lenovo, make sure to get one with 1080p screen...the default is not nearly as good....